Horrific Fires In Southern California
Several massive wildfires were raging across southern California over the weekend of October 25, 2003. Whipped by the hot, dry Santa Ana winds that blow toward the coast from interior deserts, at least one fire grew 10,000 acres in just 6 hours. (Compare this scene with one captured by Aqua MODIS just one day before.) The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on the Terra satellite captured this image of the fires and clouds of smoke spread over the region on October 26, 2003.
Moving northwest to southeast along the coast, the first cluster of red dots is a combination of the Piru, Verdale, and Simi Incident Fires; the next cluster—to the east of Los Angeles—is the Grand Prix (west) and Old (east) Fires; to their south is the Roblar 2 Fire; next is the Paradise Fire; then the massive Cedar Fire, whose thick smoke is completely overshadowing the coastal city of San Diego; finally, at the California-Mexico border is the Otay Fire. At least 13 people have lost their lives because of these fires, many of which appear to ahve been caused by carelessness and arson. Thousands have been evacuated across the region and hundreds of homes have been lost.
The high-resolution image provided above is 500 meters per pixel. The MODIS Rapid Response System provides this image at MODIS’ maximum spatial resolution of 250 meters.
Image courtesy Jacques Descloitres, MODIS Rapid Response Team at NASA GSFC
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From: http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/images.php3
(Image below taken on October 26, 2003 by the Terra Satellite)
Click here to view super-high-resolution full-size image (4071 kb)
http://www.fourwinds10.com/news/04-environment/A-humans/02-fire/2003/pics/04A2-10-28-03-California-fires-large-10-26-03.jpg
Several massive wildfires were raging across southern California over the weekend of October 25, 2003. Whipped by the hot, dry Santa Ana winds that blow toward the coast from interior deserts, at least one fire grew 10,000 acres in just 6 hours. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on the Terra satellite captured this image of the fires and clouds of smoke spreading over the region on October 26, 2003. The red polygons indicate precisely where the fires are burning, or have recently burned. (Compare this scene with one captured by the MODIS instrument aboard the Aqua satellite just one day before.) Shown below.
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From: http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/natural_hazards_v2.php3?img_id=11800
(Image below taken on October 25, 2003 by the Aqua Satellite)
Click here to view high-resolution image (280 kb)
The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on the Aqua satellite captured this image of southern California and the city of Los Angeles (center) on October 25, 2003. A huge wildfire was burning east of the city and has been detected by MODIS and marked with a red outline. The fire producing all the smoke is the Grand Prix Fire and to its east is the Old Fire. Northwest of the city is the smaller Piru Fire. Just one day later, several massive fires were raging across the region, driven by the fierce Santa Ana winds that blow toward the coast from the interior deserts.
The high-resolution image provided above is 500 meters per pixel. The MODIS Rapid Response System provides this image at MODIS’ maximum spatial resolution of 250 meters.
Image courtesy Jacques Descloitres, MODIS Rapid Response Team at NASA GSFC
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From: http://visibleearth.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/viewrecord?25927
(Image below taken on September 29, 2003 by the Terra Satellite)
Click here to view super-high-resolution full-size image (1740 kb)
In the mountains of the West, fires typically continue to spring up until the winter rains and snows put an end to the season. This Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) image from the Terra satellite on September 29, 2003, shows several fires (marked with red) burning in California. At the upper left, a spot of smoke indicates the location of the Canoe/Honeydew Complex Fire, which is burning partly in old growth redwood forest. Right of the image center, fires are burning the central Sierra Nevada Mountains, near Yosemite National Park. A few fires burning in California's large central valley are probably related to agriculture.
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